Tuesday, October 29, 2013

95 Theses for Christian Racial & Ethnic Unity: #93

Christian
education in a context that is diverse in terms of gender, class, culture, and
ethnicity requires a multicultural sensitive pedagogy, or a pedagogy of reconciliation.
Such a pedagogy is part of creating a borderland or a space for the discovery
of mutuality and common ground amid our differences. The goal of a reconciliation
pedagogy is to facilitate a journey whereby we are sensitized to our
assumptions about our culture in order to understand another culture’s content
and context from within, even while we are without. It allows us to see the
structural sin in each culture and how difference has been maintained for empowerment
or disempowerment so that we might envision the healing and transformation of
the world. Doing this is a process of border crossing that moves us from our
ethnocentricities and prejudices to an appreciation of differences. This makes
it possible for us to respect and learn from other cultures. It also enhances
our ability to understand and interact with biblical texts, themselves a
variation of cultures, and to relate them to our present changing realities.